Deerclops Laser

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-05

Overview

The deerclops_laser prefab is a short-lived projectile entity used exclusively by Deerclops to fire damaging beams at targets. It is not a reusable component but a spawnable prefab instance with built-in combat logic. When triggered, it calculates a radius around its position and applies damage, destroys workables, picks pickables (with optional launch), and triggers freeze thawing or temperature correction on affected entities. It supports both "full" and "empty" variants—the latter lacks visual FX but retains core logic.

Usage example

-- Spawn the laser at a position, configure trigger, and fire
local laser = SpawnPrefab("deerclops_laser")
laser.Transform:SetPosition(x, 0, z)
laser.caster = inst -- Assign the shooter for proper combat context
laser.Trigger(0) -- Fire immediately (delay = 0)

Dependencies & tags

Components used: combat Tags added: notarget, hostile Tags checked for damage filtering: playerghost, INLIMBO, DECOR, _combat, pickable, NPC_workable, CHOP_workable, HAMMER_workable, MINE_workable, DIG_workable, locomotor, _inventoryitem Prefabs spawned: deerclops_laserscorch, deerclops_lasertrail, deerclops_laserhit

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
caster	entity or nil	nil	The entity responsible for firing the laser; used for attack origin and combat context.
task	task or nil	nil	Internal task handle used to delay or cancel laser activation.

Main functions

Trigger(delay, targets, skiptoss)

• Description: Cancels any existing activation task and schedules a laser impact after delay seconds; if delay is ≤ 0, triggers immediately. Aggregates and forwards collision data for batch processing.
• Parameters:
  • delay (number) — Seconds to wait before processing impact. If ≤ 0, fires instantly.
  • targets (table) — Optional accumulator table for tracked targets (used for deduplication).
  • skiptoss (table) — Optional accumulator table for items that should not be launched.
• Returns: Nothing.

Events & listeners

• Listens to: None (no inst:ListenForEvent calls within the laser prefab).
• Pushes: None directly (it relies on component events like picked, combat attacks, and internal unfreeze events on victims, but does not fire its own events).

Note: While the laser prefab does not emit events, the prefabs it spawns (deerclops_laserhit) do listen for entity removal (OnRemoveHit) to restore colouradder/bloomer state.